"Following ESI's Q3 results and commentary, and hearing commentary from Anthem, we are upgrading ESRX shares to Hold. We are now increasingly confident that ESI will serve and monetize the Anthem contract through 2019, and that the two companies may even find their way to a resolution. Also, at the current share price we believe a negative revision of ~$2B is largely reflected in the current share price. Lastly, we believe Street estimates for 2017 are likely too low, as improved retention and growth in profit per Rx likely means mid single digit OP and low double digit EPS growth - powered by ~$4B in share repo - in 2017," said Hill.

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